Omega Nebula
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Omega Nebula
(via fuckyeahtheuniverse)
Omega in inferred and in visible light
M17 SWex: Dragon’s Lair
A dragon-shaped cloud of dust seems to fly with the stars in a new image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (top). In visible light (bottom), the creature disappears into the clouds.
The infrared image has revealed that this creature, a dark cloud called M17 SWex, is forming stars at a furious rate but has not yet spawned the most massive type of stars, known as O stars. Such stellar behemoths, however, light up the M17 nebula at the image’s center and have also blown a huge “bubble” in the gas and dust that forms M17’s luminous left edge.
The stars and gas in this region are now passing though the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way (moving from right to left), touching off a galactic “domino effect.” The youngest episode of star formation is playing out inside the dusty dragon as it enters the spiral arm. Over time, this area will flare up like the bright M17 nebula, glowing in the light of young massive stars. An older burst of star formation blew the bubble seen in the region to the far left, called M17 EB.
The visible-light view of the area clearly shows the bright M17 nebula, as well as the glowing hot gas filling the “bubble” to its left. However the M17 SWex “dragon” is hidden within dust clouds that are opaque to visible light. It takes an infrared view to catch the light from these shrouded regions and reveal the earliest stages of star formation.
The infrared image is a three-color composite that shows observations from two Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows light of 8 microns, both captured by Spitzer’s infrared array camera. Red is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer’s multiband imaging photometer. The bottom visible-light image is a composite of visible-light data from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) from the UK Schmidt telescope. The image combines two observations that represent the blue and red light from the region.
High-Res: Spitzer’s infrared (annotated) | Visible image (DSS)
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
M17, the “Omega nebula”
© Jukka P. MetsavainioThe Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula or the Horseshoe Nebula, cataloged as Messier 17 and NGC 6618. This H-II region loactes in constellation Sagittarius. Distance from Earth is between 5000-6000 light years and it spans about 15 light years in diameter. Image area is 30’x30’, about half a degree. Open cluster of 35 hot young stars lies inside of the nebula and causes ionization glow of the elements.
Omega Nebula
Omega Nebula
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Omega Nebula
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The Swan Nebula, also known as the Omega Nebula. [Via: ESO]](http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/fuckyeahnebulas/405222509/1/tumblr_kwovv9wijd1qzdy9x)
